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As young mushers evolve into seasoned veterans, they build a lot of character along the way.

Today our group made a visit to Iditarod Headquarters in Wasilla. While there, we were able to listen to Barbara Redington speak. Barb is the wife of Raymie Redington, son of Joe Redington, Sr. (“Father of the Iditarod”). Barb spoke to us about the Jr. Iditarod. Barb has the honor of being a board member of the Jr. Iditarod and has also run the race.

The Jr. Iditarod started in 1977. Four young men came up with the idea and spoke with Joe Redington, Sr. about it, and he loved the idea. Prior to the Jr., races for young mushers were mostly sprint races lasting 10-15 miles. These guys wanted a longer race. The Jr. Iditarod is a 175-mile trail that starts on the Knik Lake and heads out to Yentna Station. In Yentna, the halfway point, the mushers have a mandatory 10-hour stop. After their rest, they head back to Knik Lake to finish. Many of the same rules that are used in the Iditarod are used in the Jr. For instance, no outside help can be used.

Lynden, a family construction and logistics company, has sponsored the race for years. The Lynden family used to be sponsors of Susan Butcher when she was racing. They provide sponsorship in many ways from taking pictures at the race, being a M.C. at the banquet, to providing scholarships to the mushers. Last year $28,000 in scholarships were awarded. The winning mushers, Conway Seavey, came in first and won a $6000 scholarship. The rest are split amongst top finishers. The city of Wasilla also chips in money towards expenses for the race and prizes for the mushers. The race cost about $10,000-15,000. At the banquet the scholarships are awarded to top finishers. On top of that, all mushers receive some prizes. This past year $15,000-17,000 in prizes were past out. There were prizes from hamburgers to a beaver hat. Libby Riddles, first woman Iditarod winner, makes a hat each year for the first female Jr. finisher. The winner of the Jr. also receives 2 round trip tickets to Nome to the Iditarod finishers banquet to receive his/her award.

The Jr. board is very proud of the scholarships awarded to the mushers. The scholarships cannot be exchanged for cash. The mushers must use them at any learning facility. This can be a college, vocational school, etc. One musher used the scholarship to get her pilot’s license. Barb stressed how important it is for these young kids to further their education. She is happy to be able to give these young kids this opportunity.

To run the Jr. Iditarod you must be between the ages of 14-17. This race does a great job of promoting punctuality among the young kids. When they get to the halfway point, they really have to manage their time well so they are able to leave when scheduled. Remember, they are not just taking care of themselves; they are taking care of 10 dogs. They also promote sportsmanship. This year the sportsmanship award was given to Kevin Harper. Kevin was in 3rd place when leaving Yentna. All of a sudden he realized there were 2 white dogs behind him. Kevin found out they were Jimmy Lanier’s dogs by looking at the tags. Kevin grabbed the dogs and did a 180 with his dog team and sled, which is tremendously difficult. He headed back towards Yentna looking for Jimmy. He found him. Turns out Jimmy’s swing dogs chewed the gangline and the lead dogs got loose. After Kevin returned the dogs, he did another 180 and headed back towards the finish. Kevin finished the race in 3rd place and was awarded the sportsmanship award for helping Jimmy out on the trail. This was such a selfless act. Knowing he was in 3rd place, competing against others, Kevin went out of his way to help a fellow competitor out. That is the great part about mushing. The integrity they have on the trail.

Many of these veterans can attest to the fact that a lot of character is built out on this 175 miles worth of trail.

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“It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters in the end.”

What do mushers do with their sled dog when he/she retires? Just as they had the best life before their journey through the Iditarod, they have the best life still, but more relaxing. Our best bud here at Vern’s, Charles, retired as a sled dog on March 1, 2014.

Charles is a 10-year old Alaskan Husky. Charles was not born at the Dream a Dream Dog Farm. Vern acquired him from Jeff King. Charles has quite the sled dog resume. Charles has finished many sled dog races in the state of Alaska. What is most impressive is he has finished five Iditarod races.

Unbeknownst to Charles, this season would be his last. Charles took his last pre-race truck ride down to 4th street in Anchorage. He jumped up and down anxiously in his harness, in lead, under the starting line in Anchorage for the last time. He heard the announcer call, “5, 4, 3, 2, 1….GO,” for the last time. He charged out of the starting chute one final time. This one last run for Charles was the Ceremonial start of the 2014 Iditarod. He led Cindy Abbott, her “Iditarider”, and his best friend Vern, down 4th street around Cordova and out to the Campbell Airstrip. He was unharnessed and unhooked one last time. He took one final post-race truck ride to the kennel.

When Charles was taken out of the truck after they arrived at the kennel he was not hooked up. Instead Vern said, “You are free!” Free to roam the kennel. Free to sit on any kennel he wants. Free to sleep anywhere he wants. Free to be “King of the Kennel.” Charles just stood there. He didn’t know what to do. His journey through the Iditarod had come to an end. Nobody asked him. I think if Vern had given Charles a choice, he would continue to work as a sled dog for the rest of his life. That is how much he loves it, and how much all sled dogs love their job.

Watching Charles around the yard now that he is retired is awesome. He comes right up to us wanting love and attention. He sticks his paw out as to say, “Pet me. Love me.” So, what do we do? We pet him. We love him. He struts around that yard as if he owns the place. He sits up top of Aspen’s house like it is his. It is, of course, exactly where his house used to sit. Charles still thinks he is a working sled dog. He will forever be an extraordinary lead dog.

Charles is now a pet. Most sled dogs become musher pets when they retire. Some dogs will sell their retired dogs to select homes that will take extra good care of their special friends. All sled dogs will miss their job tremendously. But, just as humans enjoy their retirement, sled dogs will enjoy the relaxing and love and attention they receive with retirement.

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“Life is an interesting journey, you never know where it will take you.”

My journey today was quite interesting, however, it was awesome. This morning Terrie Hanke, author of the Eye on the Trail blog for the Iditarod, and I went to breakfast before beginning our shopping list for camp. When we got back to Vern’s Dream a Dream Dog Farm we started helping Linda prepare sandwiches for the 9:00 tour group, no big deal. After making sandwiches it was time to turn our attention to that shopping list….or not. After about a minute upstairs Linda shouted up the steps, “Terrie, Erin, get out here and help harness up the dog teams!” We looked at each other and headed down. My thought was how in the heck am I going to do this. I have harnessed a dog before, once. That was exactly one year ago when Vern taught us at summer camp. I quickly asked Terrie, “how do I do this again?” Terrie is a seasoned veteran at harnessing dogs as she has her own sled dogs back home in Wisconsin. She reminded me and off we went.

So, Linda, Serene, Cindy Abbott, and Terrie and I harnessed and hooked up two 16 dog teams. Ten minutes of noise and controlled chaos was followed by complete silence and peace. After the two teams took off, I took a deep breath and looked around and said to myself, “Wow!” Terrie and I proceeded to high-five after a job well done.

We attempted to start that shopping list again while we waited. As soon as the teams arrived back at the kennel we headed back down to water the dogs. After earning their water and a fish snack, it was time to unhook and unharness the teams and take them back to their kennel. Not quite as crazy, but this time muddy and wet. During the dog ride the dogs splash through a mud pit.

Remember that shopping list? We finally got to it.

This day provided me with a thrilling adventure and a great deal of thought. So many different journeys taking place. Serene, Vern’s handler, to her this is just a normal day. She is working for Vern during the summer handling sled dogs. Linda, Vern’s employee, again, to her this is just another day setting up and taking down for a tour. The dogs, this is their summer Iditarod training schedule. Cindy Abbott, she is here to sign up for the 2015 Iditarod and this is normal to her too. For Terrie and me, this was an awesome new experience.

My school and I wanted to send greetings to the schools along the trail as a way to kind of let our schools meet each other and to show a connection between schools that are so far apart, and yet have so many commonalities.

My boys and I have been talking all year about the similarities and differences between Alaska and Maryland. While there are obviously many, many differences, we did find several similarities. Alaskans race sled dogs. There are different styles of racing dogs – sprint, marathon, etc. There are many sled dog races throughout the state, the biggest one obviously being the Iditarod. Here in Maryland, we race horses. There are different styles of racing horses – speed, agility, steeplechase, sulky, etc. There are many tracks and many races in Maryland, the biggest being the Preakness which is a part of the Triple Crown. We have also learned the names and stories of many of the dog heroes of the Iditarod Trail.

Here at Gilman, we all know the story of one particular horse hero above all others. We all know the story of Goliath, one of the brave horses who helped saved the city during the Great Baltimore Fire. We all know the story, because one of our very own teachers, Claudia Friddell, researched and wrote a picture book telling Goliath’s story.

So, naturally, Goliath: Hero of the Great Baltimore Fire became the perfect good will wish to send down the Iditarod Trail. This week, each of my third graders paired with one of Mrs. Friddell’s first graders to write a letter to accompany a book down the trail to a new school.

Writing Letters

Writing Letters

Mrs. Friddell Autographs Her Books

We hope the students will enjoy learning about one of our heroes as much as we have enjoyed learning about theirs!

Because the Iditarod awesomely takes place in Alaska and starts in Anchorage!

One of my favorite books to share with my students is A is for Musk Ox by Erin Cabatigan. My third grade boys always roll their eyes when I tell them I am going to share an alphabet book with them – they are WAY too cool for that you know.

But, by the second page they are hooked!

This book is a funny way to show the kids how to play with language, use humor in writing, and teach them a lot about musk oxen!

We used the book as mentor text for our own version of the book A is for Iditarod. The boys worked in groups to brainstorm ideas and then we combined their ideas together into one book. We created illustrations, bound them, and then presented them to our kindergarten little buddies as a gift! It’s a great way for my boys to get some practice reading orally and for the little buddies to learn a little more about our Iditarod obsession!

This week we are focused on calculating area and perimeter… and what better tool to do that with then dog yards!

This week the students are presented with a scenario where they have been sponsored by a local fencing company who offers them fencing for their dog yard. Instead of traditional sled dog yards, the students will use the fencing material to advertise for their sponsors and create individual dog pens for their dogs. In this three day unit, they will experiment with area and perimeter and discover how you can have many different yard shapes and still maintain the same area. They will ultimately design their dream dog yard with spaces for all of their team dogs and possibly puppies and ill dogs as well. The homework assignment seeks the students’ assistance in setting up the White Mountain checkpoint while testing their understanding of area and perimeter.

Last year, 2013 Iditarod Teacher on the Trail ™, Linda Fenton issued a challenge to see how many students she could get to read Stone Fox (http://itcteacheronthetrail.com/2012/12/28/stone-fox/). The timing was perfect for me. The fourth grade had recently dropped the novel from their repertoire, so I was able to pick it up and tie it into my curriculum! I had never read the book before, and was soon just as hooked as Linda is! It’s a great novel which is a great choice to teach students about point of view. It also lends itself to discussion on an authors’ craft as you can discuss why the author made the story telling choices he did.

To begin our novel unit, we did a prediction activity by looking at the various illustrations that have graced covers of various editions of the book. The boys quickly decided that I chose the book because of the obvious dog sledding connection to the Iditarod! We discussed what it takes to be a responsible pet owner, as the boys predicted that the boy on the cover must own a dog. (Here are some ideas if your students need some help: http://www.loveyourdog.com/whatdogsneed.html). We also talked about whether or not those responsibilities would be different if we lived in a cold environment and/or if that dog was a working dog instead of a household pet.

As we had recently finished our unit on the fifty states, we spent a day looking at the setting of the novel. The students each had a map of Wyoming and we created symbols and a key to identify key locations from the novel: Jackson (the setting) and the Two Wind Indian Reservation (to represent Stone Fox’s tribe).

The students had predicted that there was a dog sled race involved from looking at the covers of the novels. I introduced the kids to the International Pedigree Stage Stop Race (http://www.wyomingstagestop.org/) which is a modern day race held in Wyoming each winter. This year’s race begins January 31st. The race is quite different from the Iditarod in that the mushers stop in towns after each leg. We added the race route to our Wyoming Map and realized that this contemporary race is held in the same area of the state that the novel is based. So by looking at photos of the race, we had some aids to help in our visualization of race scenes in the novel.

One of the covers we previewed also had a picture of a person whom my students identified as Native American. So I introduced them to the fact that this character is Shoshone, and that the Shoshone National Forest in also in the same area as the rest of the novel setting, so we added that to the map also! We also located and identified Yellowstone National Park, because it is also a key location in the northwest corner of Wyoming. If Yellowstone is new to your students, the Yellowstone Park Rangers do a distance learning program for students through Skype in the Classroom: https://education.skype.com/projects/2237-yellowstone-national-park-rangers-can-skype-with-classrooms

Since we had already participated in that program, I needed a new Junior Ranger program for my students to complete related to this novel, and I found a great one through Shoshone National Forest. The Forest Service offers a Junior Forest Ranger Badge program here: http://na.fs.fed.us/ceredirect/jfr/. The students complete the packet and send in the back page with an adult’s signature to demonstrate that they have completed the program. They are awarded a patch and pin and get a membership card that allows them access to a special kid’s only online clubhouse. The Forest Service also offers a Junior Snow Ranger Program that I am going to use with my guys to talk about winter safety in January: http://www.fs.usda.gov/main/conservationeducation/smokey-woodsy/junior-rangers

Once we were finally ready to start reading the novel, we Skyped with Linda Fenton’s class. I have never tried to simultaneously read and discuss a novel with another class, let alone another class in another state in another time zone… but it was really an amazing experience. We did a mini-mystery activity by coming up with a list of ten questions to ask the other class, and then using the answers to determine what state we were virtually visiting. Timing wise, it worked for us to Skype at the start of our Reading class which was at the end of Linda’s Reading class. So during our first Skype, after determining their location, her students introduce the novel to us and helped pique our interest in reading. In other Skype sessions throughout the next couple of weeks we discussed character traits for the main characters, shared our surprise at was happening, our feelings on the book vs. movie debate, and then finally shared our end of unit projects. It was so cool to discuss the book with Linda and her class. They had a different perspective on the novel and it was also neat for my kids to hear how different some things are between Wisconsin and Maryland!

Our Skype-Shared Brainstorming Chart

Our final project, to tie together the race in the book, the Iditarod, the Wyoming Stage Stop Race, etc. was that each class designed a sled dog race for their state. Linda had her kids begin their race in their hometown of Waupaca and then decide where to go to make a one hundred mile race. They worked in partners to create a race course. My kids worked as a whole class to create a race across the state of Maryland. (We actually decided on a Northern Route and a Southern Route so we could visit Baltimore City and Washington, DC on alternating years!) We decided to start on the Eastern Shore and end in the mountains of Western Maryland. As a group we chose a series of towns to get us across the state and then they worked in partners to plan the checkpoints. The partners used online travel sources to determine a great location for their checkpoint, decided what assistance they would be able to provide the teams, and explained all of their thinking. We put the whole thing together in a Narrated Google Earth Tour, where we were able to fly over our race route and zoom into each checkpoint location and see the details that the boys had planned for each stop. We quickly discovered there are A LOT of golf courses in Maryland and determined they would make great checkpoints because of the amenities available and the amount of open space for parking teams.

We learned from our Skype with Denali National Park (Denali Skype) that one of the adaptations that sled dogs have that allow them to survive in the arctic is their fur. Sled dogs actually have two coats of fur. The under layer is thick and dense and helps to keep the dogs warm. The outer layer, or guard hairs, are longer and coarser and help to repel water.

But sometimes, even sled dogs like to curl up with a nice cozy blanket!

For the past two years, school kids across the country have participated in a project to craft blankets to be used by dogs that are dropped at various checkpoints along the trail. The project is a pretty easy one. Basically, the kids just need to cut fleece into 3×3 foot squares and write a note or message on each one. The blankets get shipped to Iditarod Headquarters and then are sent out along the trail to be used during the race.

Last year I used the project as a Math Journal assignment. The boys had to calculate how many feet of material we would need if we were going to make a certain number of blankets and then calculate how much money it would cost to purchase the fleece. In the process, we learned that fabric is sold in yards, not feet, and how to covert inches to feet to yards.

This year, we decided to get our pre-first students involved with the project. They were so excited to get to help the dogs in a way that they could relate to. Who doesn’t love to curl up with a warm fuzzy blanket on a cold, snowy night?

Denali Size Feet = too small!

The third graders and I went down to the spacious pre-first room. We showed the boys some pictures of dogs curled up with students’ blankets from last year and presented them with the challenge…. the Iditarod Trail Committee asked for blankets measuring three feet by three feet. We told the little guys we weren’t sure what that meant, so we used our stuffed dog Denali, measured his feet and cut a blanket that was three Denali feet by three Denali feet. When we put the blanket on Denali, the pre-firsters were insistent it wasn’t big enough. So then we tried a third graders foot and made a blanket third grader foot by third grader foot… still not big enough. So we tried a Mrs. Reiter’s foot by Mrs. Reiter’s foot. With all of this trial and error, I decided to turn things over to the kids. Third graders led their little buddies in discussion to realize the need for standardized measurement.

After that, they were off and running… or should I say off measuring and cutting! Because we had patterned fleece to work with, the boys made labels to be affixed to each blanket which they decorated and signed.

If you are interested in participating in this project, they are still looking for more donations. You can email iditaroddogblankets@gmail.com for more information.

Here are some sled dog with blanket pictures you can share with your students:

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Today my son and I introduced a whole new generation of Baltimore kids to mushing and the Iditarod at a toddler play date that our school was involved in. The kids had great fun standing on the runners of the sled, trying on the headlamp, playing with all the stuffed dogs, and yelling command to Denali – the one and only dog on the team!

Pattern Making

They did a bit of math as well. Kids of all ages had a lot of fun stamping patterns with colored paw print stampers. Alternating color patterns were by far the favorite (as was skipping the whole pattern idea all together in favor of just having fun stamping!) but a few kids did more complicated patterns. One little girl even patterned the directions the paw prints were facing which was really clever.

The older kids did a great job with ordering numbers of dogs in front of a model sled. It was super easy to set up, I just cut out sixteen sled dogs from the Jan Brett site and wrote the numbers from one to sixteen on them so that the kids could lay out a whole team. It has been a long time since I’ve worked with little, little kids – so it was fascinating to watch.

Sequencing Numbers

My son, who is now in second grade, did it by counting backwards from sixteen so that he could put the last ones right in the wheel dog position. The younger kids started with one and counted forward, so they had to keep moving the sled backwards. It struck me that you could even use the same activity to count odd and even numbers forwards or backwards so that you’d end up with one line of odd numbered dogs and one in of even number dogs. It was neat to see the kids process the numbers. Some could put them right in order and some had to go back and count from one every time to determine what number came next. They were both really great activities to get an idea of where the kids are with their number sense.

It was a fun day… and maybe those of you who teach younger kids can use some of the ideas in your classes!

I am calling my classroom the 3A Dog Yard these days…. for reasons that I am sure you can understand! To get my students in the Iditarod Spirit from day one and as a way to get to know each other, we create these puppy glyphs on the first day of school.

Glyphs are a pictorial form of data collection. You might be reminded of “hieroglyphic” and think about picture writing. My kids are always interested in “real life” examples of glyphs – like dentists who record cavities on a a picture of teeth or a chiropractor who records aches on a skeletal picture. The glyphs allow doctors to record and analyze data more quickly.

My hallway bulletin board greets my students looking like this:

The students create the puppy glyphs by answering questions about their interests and study habits and then cutting and pasting the pieces according to their answers. When they are finished, they get added to the bulletin board.

Following a discussion about how mushers and kennel owners sometimes name their litters in themes, we choose a litter theme, name the puppies and then create an information sheet about the puppies that gets bound together in a classroom book. You can see our book about the Breakfast Cereal Litter from last year here: http://www.youblisher.com/p/482033-Meet-the-Puppies/

3. My friend, middle school science teacher Laurie Starkey, did the same project with her kids digitally using Kerpoof Studio: http://www.kerpoof.com/

4. Older kids might enjoy making a digital musher avatar instead of a puppy. Illustrator Maker has a lot of good choices. They could use types of headgear, items held, and even accessories as the responses to the questions: http://illustmaker.abi-station.com/index_en.shtml

5, You could also use these activities to show answers to a set of problems instead. In that case, the design of the picture would be determined by the correct answers to the problems. It could be a fun way to review a topic!

The Iditarod Books the Trail program has been running for several years now. Schools in the lower 48 and others team up with sister schools along the race trail to deliver much needed books to these remote schools. Recently the Anchorage Public Library has joined our efforts so that even more books can be enjoyed by school children without convenient access to such a broad spectrum of reading material.

On Monday, after camp, Diane Johnson and I visited the Anchorage Library to thank them for their efforts and learn more about a program they have developed called Ready to Read. This program targets preschool children with the motto “The foundation for reading begins at birth!”

Ready to Read is based on the six basic skills needed to begin reading: print awareness, print motivation, narrative skills, phonological awareness, letter knowledge and vocabulary. To encourage the development of these skills the Anchorage Library has created hundreds of tubs of books containing 30-50 board and paperback picture books, a resource guide for the adult childcare provider on a six-week renewable loan. In addition the program provides bags in which the children can take the books home to share with their families and “lapsit” bags that are thematically created including a music CD and a puppet. That sounds like a perfect experience all ready to be delivered.

I was understandably excited when I arrived to see shelves and shelves filled with these tubs and tables covered with stacks of books being arranged in themes and it brought back wonderful memories when I spotted some of my favorites.

It will be my job this year on the trail to connect the Books on the Trail with the teachers they have been created for and get the word out there about the Ready to Read program. Being an English teacher myself I am very excited to be a part of the connection.

If you and your school would like to part of this effort, contact Diane Johnson, Director of the Iditarod Education Department.

Teachers want to know what works in the classroom to facilitate student learning and to achieve growth in their learning. The research-based document,What Works in Classroom Instruction by Robert Marzano, Barbara Gaddy, and Ceri Dean (http://www.leigh.cuhsd.org/teachers/pdf/Marzano_Strategies.pdf), is a good resource which explains the research behind classroom strategies and their effect. The effect sizes of various strategies range from .59 to 1.61. An effect size of 1.0 is roughly equivalent to one year’s growth in achievement. Please refer to the above article for a table of strategies and effect sizes.

Strategies that were found to strongly affect student achievement include homework and practice, setting goals and providing feedback, non-linguistic representation, summarizing and note-taking, identifying similarities and differences, cooperative learning, reinforcing effort and providing recognition, generating and testing hypotheses, and activating prior knowledge. The two highest effect sizes fell in the strategies of summarizing and note-taking and identifying similarities and differences. This site has helpful information about using these strategies.

Part of my job as the Target® 2011 Iditarod Teacher on the Trail™ is giving presentations to students in Alaska schools. I started those today. The presentation gives students a chance to learn aboutsome similarities and differences of Alaska and North Carolina. Letting students use a Venn diagram, Thinking Maps (double bubble or bubble maps) or write about the differences and similarities of the two states would be methods to carry out a strategy with a high effect size.

The Iditarod Race is a tool to use to create a lesson on note-taking and summarizing or on identifying similarities and differences. Perhaps your area has a sport or race which could be compared and contrasted with the Iditarod, or watch Iditarod Insider video clips to practice taking notes and then organizing those notes into categories. Maybe those categories could be more easily remembered by using non-linguistic representation, another strategy which can positively affect student learning.

Right now, mushers are preparing for the race by freezing and bagging their dogs’ food for the race, planning and preparing their people food and supply bags, running their teams on daily training runs and in races like the Copper Basin, the Sheep Mountain 150, or the Gin Gin 200. I am always curious about names, so I researched how the Gin Gin 200 got its name.

Who was Gin Gin?
The Gin Gin 200 is named after a remarkable dog who dominated a dog kennel for over 10 years. She was an inspiration both on the trail and in the dog yard. She was a dog with unswerving loyalty and stubbornness. She did not know” quit”. Her ability, drive and attitude should serve as an example to dog drivers everywhere. http://www.gingin200.com/ accessed 1.1.11

Fill your classroom sled with some of these ideas to get your class prepared for the Iditarod. Choose one way or several ways, or think of your own way to connect your students, your curriculum and the race.

North Carolina, my home, is a state with very different regions—the Appalachian Mountains in the western part of the state; the rolling land of the Piedmont where I live; the flat coastal farmland edging to the Atlantic Ocean. Snow frequently visits the mountains of NC, but not so often elsewhere in the state.

Snow fell the first two weekends of December in the Piedmont, not much at all, but considering I can’t remember the last time snow fell here in December, the snowfall was remarkable for that fact alone.

Usually the snow that falls here is fluffy flakes; last week the snow looked like tiny balls of Styrofoam. Take a look at the pictures to see it.

Whether you live where snow falls or not, enjoy these books about snow. By Cynthia Rylant, the book titled Snow; Snow Show by Carolyn Fisher which explains scientific process regarding snow; Recess at 20 Below by Alaskan teacher Cindy Lou Aillaud about playing outside in cold weather conditions; The Snowflake-Winter’s Secret Beauty by Kenneth Libbrecht and Patricia Rasmussen; The Truth About Snow People by Blue Lantern Studio, available at Target®; and, of course, The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats.

What books do you already enjoy about snow? Enjoy them again with hot chocolate or apple cider. Happy Winter to you!

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The Iditarod and its race statistics make math real-life situations for students, helping them understand how math is used in everyday life. Use these math problems for practice, homework, extra credit, review, or in middle school at the beginning of class to focus students on an independent activity. Some teachers call these “at the bell” problems.

If you have Notebook software, put these problems in that software and present them via your SmartBoard. Put the problems in a shared folder so all teachers can access them.

There are problems appropriate for K-2 and grades3-5 (addition, multiplication and division) and for the math skills expected of sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. Solutions for the sixth, seventh, and eighth grade problems are here. These problems will probably give you some ideas for other problems. Visit www.iditarod.com and look around the site to find more information to use for your math work.

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It’s after Labor Day and we’re all back in school. I hope you’ve found ways to use the clipart and bookmarks in your classrooms or you have plans to use them during the year.

I‘ve had another remarkable Iditarod experience since school began that I’ll share with you. About two weeks ago, my classroom phone rang, and the caller was a parent of a student at another school in my school system. She had read an article about me in my position as the Target® 2011 Iditarod Teacher on the Trail™ in a school system publication and was excited to contact me about her family’s history of racing Siberian huskies when they lived in Iowa. The most wonderful part of the call, though, was finding out they were selling a dog sled, only 20 minutes away from me! Last Saturday I picked up my “new” old sled, harnesses, and a gangline as well as some great stories of their dogs and running dog days. And, I got a super lead on the sled’s history which I’m working to confirm.

Iditarod has provided unexpected opportunities for me over the years; where I least expect a connection, there is one. Who would have thought that in Cabarrus (say kuh bear us) County, North Carolina I’d have a chance to buy a dog sled with some really remarkable history connected to Alaska? It’s like going on a treasure hunt. I bet that you will have remarkable experiences in your classrooms when you use Iditarod as a teaching tool, too.

Here are some lesson ideas my sled generated. I can’t wait to hear about the activities and results you get when you try these.

Use the photo of the sled next to the Toyota Prius as a writing prompt. Compare and contrast the two types of transportation, their size, their purpose, their use, where they are used; create an analogy between the dogpowered transportation and the mechanical energy saving transportation; write a dialogue between the sled and the car; choose either the sled or the car and write about why it is a superior form of transportation; write about what you can do with the sled that you can’t do with the car.

Write a story from the sled’s point of view.

Write about a race the sled was in.

Persuade someone to buy this sled with an illustrated advertisement.

Build your own small scale sled using popsicle sticks.

Use a computer program to design your sled.

Create an illustration of the sled and team using an art technique such as mosaic, pencil, or collage.

Write a fable about the sled and the car. (This reminds me of The Tortoise and the Hare fable.)

Mushing on,

Martha

The dog sled and the Toyota Prius

What ideas does this picture generate in your mind?

Describe the rough trail that caused the sled crashes repaired by duct tape.

* These lessons support literacy goals. The lessons are brain based and often encourage students to move through music or be physically active. The lessons can be easily integrated into curriculum content and although they are developed for ‘younger students’, the lessons are easily adaptable to other age levels.

Lesson Summary: Readers Theater is the reading of a text in a play-like fashion. This lesson includes 2 scripts. The first script is geared towards pre-readers. The teacher reads the portion of the script that moves the story, and students respond with a refrain or simple lines that are repetitive and easy to learn. The second script is for written for first and second grade students. Although props and costumes can be involved in an elaborate Readers Theater, most involve the children simply reading the text with good fluency. By performing a Readers Theater, students are given an excellent reason to read, reread, and reread a text.

Lesson Summary: After reading Polar Bearsby Gail Gibbons students will complete an ABC or 123 dot-to-dot of a polar bear. The teacher will read the Polar Bear Fact sheet and students will point to the corresponding physical feature on their completed dot-to-dot polar bear. After all the facts have been read, students watch the National Geographic Video. The teacher then introduces the polar bear song to the children.

Lesson Summary: During the study of Alaska’s Arctic animals and where they live students will be able to tell the teacher one cold fact about each animal. A cold fact is anything that tells how these animals survive in such a harsh environment. Two facts, for example, that help the willow ptarmigan survive are that he turns white in the winter (his camouflage) and that he grows extra feathers in the winter, even on his feet (for warmth). This information is reviewed and reinforced by playing the Arctic Animal Memory Game and Arctic Animal Bingo.

Lesson Summary: After conducting the toothpick experiment and reading Gone Again Ptarmigan, students will see in this art activity how important camouflage is to Alaska’s state bird, the willow ptarmigan and other Arctic animals. (Other Arctic animals that change their coats or feathers with the season are the Arctic fox, the short-tailed weasel (known as ermine in their winter coats),the snowy owl, and the snowshoe hare. Polar bears keep their camouflage all year long!)

Lesson Summary: Students demonstrate understanding of an area that you are emphasizing in your instruction by circling or underlining on the “Five Little Huskies.” handout. For example, students can circle all the capital letters in the poem.

Lesson Summary: Students will learn strategies to decode the word “Iditarod.” They will identify all letters by name and sound, place the letters in the correct order and orally read “Iditarod” as a sight word.

Grade level: Pre- Kindergarten and beyond Lesson summary:Students will observe Jon Van Zyle’s Iditarod art as well as some of his other work showing the beauty of Alaska. They will learn a song about Jon and then draw their own Mush! Art following a step-by-step format.

Lesson Summary:Students will learn the location of Alaska on the globe and on a map, name bodies of water and countries to the north, south, east, and west of Alaska and learn one or two facts about the Arctic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, Canada, and Russia